Gardening Guides
Be a gardening legend with step-by-step instructions on how to grow a wide range of plants, what to plant when, how to combat pests and diseases, plus extra tips and tricks to get your garden flourishing.
Be a gardening legend with step-by-step instructions on how to grow a wide range of plants, what to plant when, how to combat pests and diseases, plus extra tips and tricks to get your garden flourishing.
Here are our top tips for creating your first ever vegetable garden:
1. Find a good, sunny spot - ideally, the spot you choose should get good sun and be easily accessible to the kitchen.
2. Size matters - we recommend creating a garden that is around 3x4 metres big. If you make it smaller you won't have space to rotate your crops and stagger your planting for a continual supply. And if you make it bigger it may become overwhelming and too much work for a first garden. But, if you don't have space for 3x4, any size is better than nothing!
3. Raise your garden – lifting your garden off the ground will allow the soil to drain and stop it from getting too wet. You can build your own garden box - here are our tips. But you can also buy good quality, kitset garden boxes (middle picture) from places like urbanmac - we have some at the nursery we use for growing on some of our plants.
4. Fill it with good quality, friable soil (breaks apart) and dig in some compost. Head down to your local garden centre and get some friable soil to fill the box with. If you've made your garden around 3x4 metres you'll probably need about a trailer load of soil. Ask staff at the centre to point you in the right direction. They will have a big mound of local, suitable soil somewhere on-premise. If you have compost, dig some of this in now. If you'd like to learn how to make compost too, visit here.
5. Grow quick-growing seedlings that you enjoy to eat - vegetables like lettuce, courgette, cucumber, spinach, silver or rainbow beet are all fast-growing and easy to maintain. You can choose to plant whatever you like, but for a first-time gardener, we recommend staying away from onions and plants of the brassica family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc) as they need a big area and a lot of time to grow.
6. Follow the instructions - on the back of each label are instructions for planting. Follow these or use our gardening guides for step-by-step planting tips for each type of vegetable.
7. Stagger your planting - for a continual supply of veges (particularly your fast-growing ones like lettuce, rocket and ones you like to eat a lot of), plant a new bundle of seedlings every couple of weeks. This will ensure the veges you like to eat are always ready to harvest. Mixed bundles like the Awapuni mixed mesclun and mixed herb varieties are great if you want a certain type of plant to always be ready to harvest but don't want too much one plant at one time.
8. Mulch it - once you've filled your new garden with seedlings, cover it with mulch like pea straw. This will help keep the weeds down and maintain moisture - especially important over summer. When you eventually harvest all your plants dig the pea straw or mulch into your garden. This will save you having to dig over your garden next time you plant seedlings.
9. Cover it - to ensure your hard work doesn't go to waste, I recommend covering your garden with bird netting or some sort of net closure. I use bird netting with a stake frame which I purchased from The Warehouse. It stops the birds getting to my veges, neighbours' cats and dogs doing their business in my garden, and our chickens from digging everything up. If the holes are small enough it may also prevent other pesky creatures like white butterfly from devouring your produce.
10. Enjoy it - You can expect to start harvesting your hard work in around six weeks.
Read full articleWe've compiled some tips for you to be able to get more fruits from your vege garden especially during harvest time.
Here are some gardening tips that will enable more fruiting!
1. SOIL MATTERS
Good quality potting mix is equipped with nutrients that will help your plants develop strong roots.
2. Feeding your plants with good fertilisers will boost their yields.
Some options are: Liquid Seaweed and Tomato Foods
3. Choice of plants
Look for plants that grow well within your region's climate. Warmer areas are great for tomatoes while brassicas and cabbages can thrive in cooler areas.
Plant based on what's in season. Use our planting calendar as your guide.
4. Spacing
Give your plants enough space to grow. Planting too close is a disease risk and inhibit proper growth.
5. COMPANION Planting
Companion plants are plants that support the growth of other species to promote their growth. For example, tomatoes love being planted with basil. Mixing flowers with veges help reduce pests and help attract pollinators. It's also helpful to diversify flowering plants, perennials and annuals. Choose blooms that are rich in nectar.
6. Keep picking.
The more you pick, the more the plant produces. Picking initiates more flowers and fruits.
7. WATER regularly.
Keep a schedule. Plants need regular, consistent watering. Irregular watering causes disease and can leave vegetables like lettuce bitter tasting. In hot months, better water early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
8. Watch out for weeds.
These weeds will try to consume the water and nutrients meant for your plants.
9. Let sunshine do its magic.
Veggies love a lot of sun, ideally about 8 hours a day.
10. Start with easy plants.
If you're a beginner, here are some easy-to-grow plants for your edible garden:
Radish, Herbs (Basil Sweet, Parsley), Lettuces, Broccoli, Sweet corn, Spring Onions
Are you tired of the endless attempts to persuade your children to eat fruit?
Are you looking for a healthy snack that is almost guaranteed to appeal to the kids - and the whole family? And that will be very affordable?
Why not enlist your children's help in the garden and plant strawberries for the summer.
Strawberries are high in vitamin A and C, can be used in snacks or smoothies and kids love to eat them! And if you plant them now they'll be ready for Christmas!
Growing strawberries is a great activity for all the family and now, while the soil is moist and the plants are dormant, is the perfect time to plant.
Strawberries can be purchased from most garden centres, nurseries or supermarkets and the parjero variety, which is packaged in bundles of four, are great to start with.
They are fantastic producers of medium to large sized strawberries, and will last all summer.
A well drained plot in full sun is essential for growing great strawberries for summer. But for those with limited space, strawberries can be planted in large pots, hanging baskets, or roof spouting nailed to your fence.
They are adaptable and grow well in most sunny situations but they do not tolerate wet soils.
Not only does growing strawberries provide great eating, but by involving children in the planting, it can also be a fun learning experience.
Children can help to test the pH of the soil is at the right level (pH 5.0 - 6.5 for strawberries) by using an easy-to-use pH test kit, which are readily available from most garden centres.
If the pH is too low, spreading garden lime over the garden will help return it to the right level.
Once the soil pH is correct, the soil must be prepared for the strawberries.
Mix compost and blood and bone fertiliser to the garden until you have created a mound 300mm high and 400mm wide.
Strawberries are traditionally planted in mounds because the mounds improve drainage, increase air circulation around the plants, prevent the spread of disease and give shallow soils more depth.
And the fertiliser will provide a great boost of food as the roots spread out.
Plant the strawberries as normal but make sure the crown, the part just below the leaves, is just above ground level. Also, remember to keep the soil evenly moist.
To add some winter colour to your garden and to keep kids interested while the strawberries are growing, I recommend planting winter plants amongst the strawberries.
To save extra work and weeding around the strawberries, I suggest placing a weed mat or straw around the base of the plants.
This will save having to weed the plants but also prevents the strawberries from sitting on the ground and rotting.
And for sweet juicy strawberries during the holiday season, fertilise the strawberries with a high potassium and low nitrogen content liquid fertiliser.
Lastly, and most importantly, I recommend setting up bird-netting over the strawberries.
Bird netting is simple to use and can be found at any local garden centre.
Drape the netting over the plants, in baskets or in the garden, and secure with stones or cloth pegs.
This will ensure you have big and tasty strawberries for toppings on Christmas pavlovas, dipping in chocolate or for low fat summer smoothies during the hotter months!
I can't think of a vegetable that's more fun for kids to eat than sweet corn. I have many happy memories of sitting around the table engrossed in a hearty cob or two.
Since I've become a parent, I've discovered it's also a great time-killer for the wee ones - though mine aren't quite so wee any more. Pop them outside with a few cobs left over from last night's dinner and it'll keep them busy long enough for you to get a job or two done (or even enjoy a cuppa if you're lucky).
If you like to put more time and effort into your meal preparation, you can, of course, also turn your corn into fritters, or add it to salads or Mexican dishes. The options are endless.
Sold? Great, because now's the time to get planting. Grab some Awapuni Nurseries sweet corn seedlings next time you're down at your local supermarket, Bunnings, or The Warehouse. Alternatively, head to our online store and have them delivered direct to your door. For a family of four you'll need around 20 plants, or two bundles.
Corn likes sunny and free-draining conditions, so make sure you find the right planting spot. It will also need a bit of space to grow.
Once you've found your place, dig a little hole and plant your seedlings about 20cm apart from each other. I like to plant mine in rows or in a group so each plant can support another as they grow taller.
As the corncob starts to form, it's important to water your plants to ensure they don't dry out. You should be able to get around two cobs off a plant starting in late summer. Not sure if they're ready? Peel back the husk of the cob a little bit and if they look juicy, they're ripe for the picking. Still look a little hard? Give them some more time.
Once they're ready for action and you've harvested the entire crop, pull the plants out. Sweet corn can take a lot of nitrogen out of the soil so try planting peas and beans in the spot where your corn was. Not only will they bump up the nitrogen content again, these kid-friendly greens will also help keep little hands busy at the dinner table.
Read full articleHas your inner gardener got the best of you and you bought too many plants with no place to put them straight away? Or is the weather just not playing along?
Whatever the reason, here are a few tips to keep your plants alive and healthy until you’re ready to get busy in the garden:
Firstly, keep your seedling or established plants upright at all times. Sit the base of your seedling bundles (still wrapped in their newspaper) in a saucer or ramekin with a little bit of water - but not too much water, you don’t want them to drown!
During winter keep your seedling bundles in direct sunlight. But in summer it’s best to keep them in an area that has part shade.
Your established plants can remain in their bags for a month, but each plant varies. It is best to get them in the ground before they become root bound. A good way to test this is to feel the bag, if it is hard like a rock then the roots have been established and removing the bag could damage the plant.
You should only leave your seedlings or established plants like this for a few days at most. When you’re ready to plant, dip the complete base of the seedlings in water. This will speed up the germination process, which leads to a faster growing plant and, in turn, a happy gardener.
If you’re unable to plant your seedlings in their permanent location for more than a few days or a week you should ‘heel’ the plants in soil. Heeling plants involves temporarily storing a plant in soil until its ready to be planted in its permanent spot. (This doesn’t apply to established plants.) This will ensure your seedlings remain healthy and continue growing. It also provides an extra layer of protection for their roots and gives you a bit more time to prep your garden. Remember, before you heel your seedlings, remove the newspaper.
During summer, the plants can be heeled for about a month and in winter you can leave them in the ground for the entire season.
Once you’re ready to plant them in their permanent location, carefully use a trough to dig them out without damaging their roots.
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